2013/01/09: CNN: NOAA: 2012 broke U.S. heat records
Last year’s extreme weather could be “the new normal,” environmentalist says – NOAA declares 2012 the hottest on record – Every state in the Lower 48 saw above-average temperatures; 19 set their own records – Droughts, tropical storms and other disasters made it the second-most extreme year

2013/01/08: BBC: US 2012 heat record ‘partly due to climate change’
The US sweltered under its hottest year on record in 2012, breaking the previous yearly average by 0.6C (1F), the US government has said. Last year the average US temperature was 13C (55.3F) amid widespread drought and a mild winter. Scientists said the heat was caused both by global warming and by natural weather variation. But they said the size of the increase over the previous record year, 1998, was unprecedented.

The continuing heatwave and wildfire crisis in Australia is grabbing headlines:

2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Homes in danger from blaze in northern NSW
Authorities are warning lives and property are under immediate threat as a large bushfire burns out of control near communities in northern New South Wales. The Rural Fire Service has issued an emergency warning for the large, fast moving blaze near Coonabarabran, which has already destroyed two properties.

2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Heat waves exacerbated by climate change
Fire crews in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales have worked through the night to try to contain dozens of bushfires still burning out of control. And there’s concern that a return to heat wave conditions today will bring many more blazes. The Federal Government’s Climate Commission says we’d better get used to it – heatwaves are set to get hotter, longer, bigger and more frequent. The Climate Commission says the heatwave and bushfires which have dogged Australia this week have been exacerbated by global warming. The Commission is launching its findings in a new report today, called “Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat.”

2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Weary crews to battle blazes through the night
Weary fire crews and residents across New South Wales are bracing for more hot weather as bushfires continue to burn out of control across parts of the state. The bushfire situation remains serious in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, while crews are on standby in Central Australia.

2013/01/12: BBerg: Australian Heat Wave Adds to Fire Risk in New South Wales
Temperatures soared through much of New South Wales, ensuring a total fire ban stayed in place as firefighters battle blazes in the south of Australia’s most populous state. Temperatures rose as high as 46.8 degrees Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit) in inland parts of the state today, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Authorities brace for renewed fire threat
Fire authorities are on alert for a dangerous weekend in south-east Australia after crews spent another day fighting blazes still burning out of control. The situation remains serious in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. More than 100 bushfires are burning in New South Wales alone, and 18 are uncontained.

2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Fire Authorities expecting the worse
After two days of reprieve, today heatwave conditions returned to south eastern Australia. The mercury again pushed past 40 degrees in western parts of New South Wales. The heat brought with it more fire danger. Close to 100 bushfires are still burning across New South Wales. In Victoria a bushfire has been threatening property near Ballarat. And with the hot weather forecast to continue, preparations are being made for what could be trying days ahead.

2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Weather conditions set to stoke fire threat
Fire authorities are preparing for worsening weather conditions throughout Friday and into the weekend as crews battle to quell blazes across the country. A total fire ban is in place for New South Wales, the ACT and Victoria as the nation continues to suffer a record-breaking heatwave. Over 100 fires are burning across New South Wales, with authorities particularly concerned about three major blazes: one burning at Deans Gap, south of Nowra; a fire west of Yass, near Jugiong; and another at Yarrabin in the Kybeyan Valley, 20 kilometres east of Cooma.

2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Dunalley locals question control-burning regime
Locals in the Tasmanian fishing village of Dunalley say the fire which ravaged their community would not have been so ferocious if hazard reduction burns had been carried out before the summer. A total of 126 properties were destroyed or damaged in the Dunalley fire, and a photo (above) given to the ABC yesterday and taken from a fire-fighting helicopter shows a giant fireball bearing down on the town at the height of the inferno.

2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Residents complain about fire information
People who were in the path of a fire that swept through Snake Valley west of Ballarat have complained about a lack of information about the blaze. Nine houses, including the historic Carngham Station homestead, were destroyed in the fire that burned 1,200 hectares yesterday. Twelve people were injured.

2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Live blog: cool weather offers respite in fire efforts
Firefighters across south-east Australia have had another frantic morning trying to get fires under control ahead of the expected return of hot conditions later this week. Homes were destroyed in Victoria yesterday, but concerns over the number of people still unaccounted for in the Tasmanian bushfires have eased The heatwave is shifting north to northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, with temperatures of up to 40C forecast near Brisbane today.

2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Long battle to tame Red Centre fires
A number of uncontrolled fires continue to burn across Central Australia. Emergency services are now focusing on a blaze east of Alice Springs. Crews have spent the night trying to slow the progress of a fire burning at Ross River, about 80 kilometres east of Alice Springs.

2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Catastrophic danger across parts of NSW
More areas of New South Wales have been given a catastrophic fire danger rating, as high temperatures and winds reach their peak. The northern and eastern Riverina and southern parts of the lower central western plains will stay at catastrophic levels for several hours before a cool change later tonight. The Rural Fire Service says people in these areas should avoid bushland areas and ensure they know what to do if a fire threatens their area. The Illawarra, Shoalhaven and southern highlands remain under a catastrophic fire danger rating.

2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Fire threatens homes near Cooma
An out-of-control fire burning near Cooma in southern New South Wales has crossed the Numeralla River into the Kybean Valley. It is currently burning near properties in The Avenue, Hains Road, Warnocks Road.

2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Outback town swelters through week of 45C
Residents in the outback town of Oodnadatta are preparing for their seventh consecutive day above 45 degrees Celsius. The temperature at the town in South Australia’s far north is forecast to reach 47C today after reaching 46C on Saturday and 47C on Sunday and Monday. It will be the 10th day in a row above 40C. The last time the town experienced a maximum below 35C was December 10.

2013/01/07: CNN: Firefighters battle blazes on ‘dangerous day’ in Australia
Federal government steps in with fuel, personnel to help NSW fire effort – More than 130 fires are burning across NSW during one of the hottest days on record – 90% of the Australian state is under “severe” or higher fire warnings – High temperatures and dry conditions have combined to create “dangerous day”

2013/01/07: ABC(Au): CFS helps battle Victorian bushfire
South Australian firefighters are in Victoria’s south-west helping local crews battle a large bushfire about 40 kilometres from the border. The blaze has burnt about 4000 hectares of bushland in the Lower Glenelg National Park and a pine plantation since Friday.

2013/01/07: ABC(Au): NSW faces ‘worst ever’ fire danger day
New South Wales residents are being warned to prepare for one of the most serious fire threats in the state’s history, with conditions rated as “catastrophic”. A total state-wide fire ban has been issued for Tuesday, with a catastrophic rating in place for the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Ranges. Many other areas are expecting extreme danger levels.

It is evident that the Fukushima disaster is going to persist for some time. TEPCO says 6 to 9 months. The previous Japanese Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, said decades. Now the Japanese government is talking about 30 years. [Whoops, that has now been updated to 40 years.] We’ll see. At any rate this situation is not going to be resolved any time soon and deserves its own section.
Meanwhile…
It is very difficult to know for sure what is really going on at Fukushima. Between the company [TEPCO], the Japanese government, the Japanese regulator [NISA], the international monitor [IAEA], as well as independent analysts and commentators, there is a confusing mish-mash of information. One has to evaluate both the content and the source of propagated information.
How knowledgeable are they [about nuclear power and about Japan]?
Do they have an agenda?
Are they pro-nuclear or anti-nuclear?
Do they want to write a good news story?
Do they want to write a bad news story?
Where do they rate on a scale of sensationalism?
Where do they rate on a scale of play-it-down-ness?
One fundamental question I would like to see answered:
If the reactors are in meltdown, how can they be in cold shutdown?

2013/01/07: ERW: West Greenland warming hits 10°C
Some parts of west Greenland have warmed more than 10°C in winter in the last 20 years. That is according to a team from the UK, US, Denmark and Switzerland, which has conducted the first major systematic analysis of Greenland’s temperatures since 2002.

2013/01/10: BBerg: Corn Supply Dropping Most Since 1995 Signals U.S. Rally
U.S. corn supplies, the world’s biggest, are dropping at the fastest pace in 17 years as drought damage exceeds government forecasts and five months of declining prices spur demand from livestock producers. Inventories on Dec. 1 were 15 percent lower than a year earlier at 8.22 billion bushels (208.8 million metric tons), the smallest post-harvest stockpile since 2003, according to the average of 26 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley and Macquarie Group Ltd. expect prices to rebound at least 17 percent to $8.14 a bushel in 2013.

The state of the world’s fisheries is a concern:

2013/01/09: NatureN: Fish biologists claim political interference over salmon studies
Seven US fisheries scientists have raised a formal complaint claiming that a supervisor threatened to eliminate their research division after the team produced controversial model predictions of survival and recovery of the threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon. “This falls into the basket of obstruction of science for policy or political ends,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), based in Washington DC. The watchdog group filed the complaint of scientific misconduct on 7 January to the Department of Interior on behalf of the scientists who work at the US Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

And how are we going to feed 9 billion, 10 billion, 15 billion?

2013/01/10: CNN: World wastes half its food, study finds
Globally about 4.4 billion tons of food is produced, engineering group said – Consumers in developed countries throw as much as 50 percent away – Waste comes at all stages – harvesting, storage, transportation, and purchasing

2013/01/10: EurActiv: Almost half of the world’s food thrown away, report finds
As much as half of all the food produced in the world — equivalent to 2bn tonnes — ends up as waste every year, engineers warned in a report published on Thursday. The UK’s Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IME) blames the “staggering” new figures in its analysis on unnecessarily strict sell-by dates, buy-one-get-one free and Western consumer demand for cosmetically perfect food, along with “poor engineering and agricultural practices”, inadequate infrastructure and poor storage facilities.

2013/01/10: BBC: Half of all food ‘wasted’ report claims
As much as half of the world’s food, amounting to two billion tonnes worth, is wasted, a UK-based report has claimed. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers said the waste was being caused by poor storage, strict sell-by dates, bulk offers and consumer fussiness. The study also found that up to 30% of vegetables in the UK were not harvested because of their physical appearance. The institution’s Dr Tim Fox said the level of waste was “staggering”.

In the South Indian Ocean, Narelle spun up to Cat 5 threatening the western Australian coast:

2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Cyclone Narelle downgraded
Tropical Cyclone Narelle appears to have spared Exmouth from destructive weather, as it continues to move down Western Australia’s Pilbara coast. Narelle was downgraded to a category four storm overnight, and was most recently located about 330 kilometres west north-west of Exmouth.

2013/01/13: ABC(Au): Weakened Narelle moves away from WA coast
Tropical Cyclone Narelle has been downgraded to a category three system as it moves away from the West Australian coast. The cyclone is 350 kilometres off Exmouth and is expected to pass west of the Northwest Cape today. At its peak, Narelle was considered a category five system but it is expected to weaken to a category one tomorrow afternoon.

2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Volatile Cyclone Narelle starts to weaken
Authorities say Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is showing signs of weakening and is becoming increasingly unlikely communities along Western Australia’s West Pilbara coast will be impacted by dangerous weather. Narelle intensified overnight and was upgraded to a category five tropical cyclone early this morning. However, it has since been downgraded back to a category four system and is expected to weaken to a category three on Monday.

2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Cyclone Narelle expected to bypass WA coast
The town of Exmouth is preparing for the potential impact of Tropical Cyclone Narelle, which is moving down Western Australia’s Pilbara coast. Local authorities have decided not to upgrade cyclone warnings after the latest forecast shows Narelle moving away from the coast. However, the cyclone, which is currently a category 4 system located about 495 kilometres north, north-west of Exmouth, is still expected to bring strong winds and heavy rain.

What’s new on the extinction front?

2013/01/10: BBC: Rhino poaching in South Africa reaches record levels
Figures from the South African government indicate that poaching for rhinoceros has increased substantially in the last year. A record 668 rhinos were killed for their horns in 2012, up almost 50% on the number for 2011. The majority of the animals were killed in the Kruger national park, the country’s biggest wildlife reserve. Experts say that growing demand for rhino horn in Asia is driving the slaughter. South Africa is home to around three quarters of the world’s rhinoceros population of around 28,000 animals. In 2007 a mere 13 animals were lost to poachers.

And then there are the world’s forests:

2013/01/10: CBC: Pine beetle infesting new B.C. tree species
The mountain pine beetle is on the move to higher elevations and threatening new species of trees and entire sensitive forest ecosystems, according to a new study. The resilient beetle has wreaked havoc mainly on lodge pole pine in B.C., ruining 18 millions hectares of forest — the equivalent of about five Vancouver Islands. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison say the bug is now attacking whitebark pine forests in the northern Rockies in the western U.S. and B.C.

This week in notable weather:

2013/01/13: al Jazeera: California “Dreaming” of warmer weather
Frosty temperatures could put southern California’s delicate orchards at risk of freezing Freeze warnings have been issued for southern California as Los Angeles and San Diego are expected to see their lowest temperatures in years. A deep dip in the jet stream across the western United States is helping to usher in a very cold polar air mass from Canada.

2013/01/10: BBC: Deadly storms blanket parts of Mid-East in snow
The worst storms to hit the Middle East in a decade have claimed several lives and left large parts of Israel and Jordan blanketed in snow. Across the region, many schools are shut and thousands of homes are without power. Heavy snow in Jerusalem on Thursday brought transport to a standstill.

2013/01/10: ABC(Au): 80 die in record Bangladesh cold snap
A cold snap which saw temperatures drop to 40-year lows in Bangladesh has killed around 80 people, officials said. Shah Alam, the deputy head of the weather office, said the lowest temperature was recorded at 3 degrees Celsius in the northern town of Syedpur.

Sea levels are rising:

2013/01/09: RealClimate: Sea-level rise: Where we stand at the start of 2013
Progress has been made in recent years in understanding the observed past sea-level rise. As a result, process-based projections of future sea-level rise have become dramatically higher and are now closer to semi-empirical projections. However, process-based models still underestimate past sea-level rise, and they still project a smaller rise than semi-empirical models.

2013/01/06: LNJ: Gulf swallowing Galveston faster than thought
Rising sea levels are likely to cover the coastal highway on the unprotected west end of Galveston sooner than previously predicted. A 2007 study underwritten by the city of Galveston that anticipated rising sea levels would cover the highway within 60 years appears to have been overly optimistic.

2013/01/06: VoxEU: Imperfect climate policy unlikely to increase domestic emissions by Corrado Di Maria et al.
By promising to reduce fossil fuel demand in the future, some claim that climate policies will induce supply side responses today; firms will pump out emissions now before demand restrictions tighten. However, this column argues that the ‘green paradox’ is a red herring. Evidence from US coal prices suggests that, in industrialised countries, there is little danger of an increase in domestic emissions in response to imperfect climate policies.

More DIY science:

What’s new in models?

2013/01/08: BBC: Climate model forecast is revised
The UK Met Office has revised one of its forecasts for how much the world may warm in the next few years.
[…]
The earlier model had projected that the period 2012-16 would be 0.54C above that long-term average – within a range of uncertainty from 0.36-0.72C. By contrast the new model, known as HadGEM3, gives a rise about one-fifth lower than that of 0.43C – within a range of 0.28-0.59.

On the international political front, tensions continue as the empire leans on Iran:

2013/01/06: WaPo: New Iran sanctions target industry in bid for deal curbing nuclear program
New U.S. sanctions have broadened the front in the West’s escalating economic conflict with Iran, targeting large swaths of the country’s industrial infrastructure even as Iranian leaders are indicating a willingness to resume negotiations on the country’s nuclear program. With Iran’s economy already reeling from previous sanctions, the new measures passed by Congress and signed by President Obama last week are intended to deliver powerful blows against key industries ranging from shipping and ports-management to the government-controlled news media, congressional officials and economic experts say. While some previous U.S. sanctions targeted individuals and firms linked to Iran’s nuclear industry, the new policies are closer to a true trade embargo, designed to systematically attack and undercut Iran’s major financial pillars and threaten the country with economic collapse, the officials say.

South [& East] China Sea tension persists:

2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Japan’s tougher stance over disputed islands
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has ordered his defence minister to strengthen surveillance around islands at the heart of a territorial feud with China. Earlier, the Deputy Foreign Minister summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest against what he called an incursion by four Chinese maritime surveillance ships near the islands.

In the global competition for Rare Earths and other natural resources:

2013/01/11: BBC: US to build $120m rare earth research institute
The US Department of Energy is giving $120m (£75m) to set up a new research centre charged with developing new methods of rare earth production. Rare earths are 17 chemically similar elements crucial to making many hi-tech products, such as phones and PCs. The Critical Materials Institute will be located in Ames, Iowa.

2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Japan to survey Pacific seabed for rare earth
Japan will launch a survey of its Pacific seabed in the hope of finding rare earth deposits large enough to supply its high-tech industries and reduce its dependence on China. Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology will start the probe from January 21 on the seabed near Minamitorishima island, some 2,000 kilometres southeast of Tokyo.

2013/01/07: ABC(Au): Glenugie CSG blockade broken
The blockade of a coal seam gas drilling site on the state’s north coast has been broken. Police have arrested at least a dozen protesters at Glenugie, near Grafton. A blockade has been in place for the last seven weeks, despite gas company Metgasco having landowner and government permission for exploratory drilling. ABC reporter Margaret Burin says the protesters made their feelings clear. “There’s people from right around the region here today and they’re very angry,” she said.

2013/01/10: ColumbusDispatch: PUCO deals blow to AEP solar project
A plan that was to give Ohio the largest solar array east of the Rockies is all but dead, potentially costing hundreds of jobs. American Electric Power is saying that actions yesterday by regulators make it difficult to see how the 49.9-megawatt project southeast of Zanesville could ever come together. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio voted 3-1 to strip the Turning Point Solar plan from a larger report about AEP’s projected power needs. The majority wrote that AEP did not prove that the project is needed, and the panel left it up to AEP to provide further justification.

2013/01/09: NatureN: Fish biologists claim political interference over salmon studies
Seven US fisheries scientists have raised a formal complaint claiming that a supervisor threatened to eliminate their research division after the team produced controversial model predictions of survival and recovery of the threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon. “This falls into the basket of obstruction of science for policy or political ends,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), based in Washington DC. The watchdog group filed the complaint of scientific misconduct on 7 January to the Department of Interior on behalf of the scientists who work at the US Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

2013/01/08: DenverPost: Environment groups decry proposed rule for water testing in Colorado
Colorado’s proposed new rule to protect water from expanding oil and gas operations would not apply to more than 25 percent of wells or to the tanks, pipelines and other production facilities that are frequent sources of leaks. Environmental groups that worked with Shell Oil to develop a tougher before-and-after groundwater-testing rule are calling the state’s proposal a farce.

2013/01/06: CNN: America isn’t ready for superstorms
Stephen Flynn: Hurricane Sandy shows how poorly prepared U.S. is for major storms – He says we need to stop behaving as if such disasters are so rare, unpredictable – There are steps governments can take to get ready in advance of storms, Flynn says – Flynn: Storms should be closely studied to yield clues about how to prepare better

Major storms are always dangerous. Superstorm Sandy left 132 Americans dead, damaged and destroyed tens of thousands of homes, left millions without power, and crippled the largest metropolitan area in the United States.
The massive human and economic toll of this disaster came just seven years after Hurricane Katrina. It marked only the latest in a spate of deadly and destructive weather events, including the May 2011 tornado that leveled much of Joplin, Missouri. Not being well prepared for dealing with extreme weather events is very expensive.

2013/01/12: BBerg: [NCADAC] Climate Panel Says Coast, Midwest at Risk of Extreme Weather
Average U.S. temperatures may jump as much as 4 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 Celsius) in the coming decades, and efforts to combat the effects are insufficient, a government advisory panel on climate change said. The 60-member panel approved and released a draft report today that says many coastal areas face “potentially irreversible impacts” as warmer temperatures lead to flooding, storm surges and water shortages.

2013/01/09: WSWS: Behind the newly proposed US food regulations
The federal Food and Drug Administration unveiled two proposed food safety rules on January 4, exactly two years after President Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act. While the proposals have been hailed as “landmark” improvements to US food oversight, they are not likely to be implemented for yet another three years, and will provide FDA inspectors with no meaningful enforcement powers. In fact, the rules are part of the drive of the Obama administration to deregulate industries across the board, allowing corporations to police themselves.

As for what is going on in Congress:

2013/01/09: AustinStatesman: House science panel wears blinders
“All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell.” That scientific opinion comes courtesy of Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia, who also apparently sees geology as originating in the devil’s realm, since he also has said he believes the earth is only “about 9,000 years old” and “was created in six days as we know them.” We wish that what we’re about to report was a joke but, alas, it is not. Broun is a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

2013/01/07: Guardian(UK): David Cameron’s black ops speak louder than green words
The prime minister discarded the best candidate to lead [DECC] the energy and climate change department to pander the right wing fringe of his party. We are all the losers
[…]
… in a nakedly political move, Cameron appointed Lovegrove after carrying out a highly unusual political hit on the candidate chosen by energy secretary Ed Davey and senior civil servants: David Kennedy, the chief executive of the government’s official advisers, the Committee on Climate Change. Lovegrove took part in the initial recruitment round, I understand, but was ranked several candidates behind Kennedy.
However Kennedy holds the inconvenient belief that the lowest cost, least risk route to a sustainable economy includes setting a target to clean up the UK’s electricity by 2030, a move loathed by the Tory dinosaurs yet to realise that the green economy is one of the few growing parts of UK plc.

2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Miners lobbied against activist legal service
The New South Wales Minerals Council has confirmed that it lobbied the State Government to cut funding to an environmental legal service. In October, the Council wrote to the Premier, saying that the Environmental Defender’s Office was supporting a ‘campaign of economic sabotage’ against the coal export industry. Last month the State Government announced it was directing funding away from groups that provide legal advice to activists.

2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Greens back anti-coal activist after media hoax
Greens leader Christine Milne has backed an anti-coal activist whose actions temporarily wiped more than $300 million from the value of Whitehaven Coal, arguing it was part of a “long and proud history” of civil disobedience. Jonathan Moylan issued a fake ANZ media release on Monday claiming the bank had pulled a $1.2 billion loan from Whitehaven’s Maules Creek project on environmental grounds, prompting a share-market sell-off.

2013/01/09: ABC(Au): Labor MP sorry for Abbott firefighting ‘stunt’ tweet
A federal Labor frontbencher has apologised for describing Tony Abbott’s work as a volunteer firefighter as a “stunt”. The Opposition Leader has been a volunteer firefighter for more than a decade, and was this morning deployed to fight fires at Nowra on the NSW south coast with the Davidson Rural Fire Service.

2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Major [600 megawatt] wind farm project causes a stir
Plans for what would become one of the nation’s biggest wind farms are now in the hands of the South Australian Government. Developer REpower has lodged a formal application with the state’s Development Assessment Commission to build the 199-turbine project on the state’s Yorke Peninsula. The $1.3 billion wind farm known as the ‘Ceres project’ was first announced 18 months ago.

2013/01/11: ABC(Au): Ashby seeks leave to appeal Slipper ruling
A request to appeal has been lodged with Federal Court over the judgment on the Peter Slipper sexual harassment lawsuit. Mr Slipper’s former staffer James Ashby is seeking leave to appeal against the decision that his case was an “abuse of process”. In his ruling last month, Justice Steven Rares declared the predominant purpose of Mr Ashby’s case was to cause “significant public, reputational and political damage” to the former speaker. Justice Rares also ordered Mr Ashby pay Mr Slipper’s legal costs. Mr Ashby does not have an automatic right to contest the decision. His request will now be considered by the court.

The Australian Climate Commission released their _Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat_ report this week:

2013/01/12: ABC(Au): Heatwave exacerbated by climate change: Climate Commission
A new report from the Federal Government’s Climate Commission says the heatwave and bushfires that have affected Australia this week have been exacerbated by global warming. The report – Off the Charts: Extreme Australian Summer Heat – warns of more extreme bushfires and hotter, longer, bigger and more frequent heatwaves, due to climate change. It says the number of record heat days across Australia has doubled since 1960 and more temperature records are likely to be broken as hot conditions continue this summer.

After years of wrangling the Murray Darling Basin plan is in place. Now the real fight begins:

2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Water restrictions under review after pipeline opens
Water restrictions for two central Victorian towns will be reviewed now that a new pipeline is servicing the area. Work on the $6 million Raywood-Sebastian pipeline started in October 2010. But the project was plagued by problems, including wet weather and contractual matters, leading to long delays.

While in China:

2013/01/13: al Jazeera: Beijing pollution ‘worst on record’
Municipal environmental centre says that poor air conditions likely to last another two days. Residents of Beijing have been refusing to step outdoors due to fears sparked by the dangerous levels of pollutants in the air. The air quality in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday was the “worst on record”, according to an environmentalist group as the pollution levels in the city were at 30-45 times the safety level.

2013/01/07: NatPo: Andrew Coyne: Meeting with Harper won’t settle aboriginal people’s problems
If it does nothing else, the Idle No More movement of the past few weeks will have provided a valuable lesson in why so many aboriginal Canadians remain so chronically destitute — why progress has been so frustratingly elusive, and why it is likely to remain so. The movement, with its vast and ill-defined agenda, its vague and shifting demands, its many different self-appointed spokespersons, is open to any number of different interpretations. But the absolutist rhetoric, the dismissal of dissenting opinion as so much “racism,” and above all, the rigid insistence on adhering to the same approaches that have so signally failed to date, do not suggest a happy future for aboriginal relations.

That, in a phrase, is the Harper approach to aboriginal issues in Canada. With the exception of former prime minister Paul Martin, that has pretty much been the playbook for all federal governments — out of sight, out of mind. Mostly, he’s succeeded.

And it will be interesting to see what happens with this ruling:

2013/01/10: WCEL: Yukon court decision could force BC to overhaul its antiquated mining laws
The decision of the Yukon Court of Appeal in Ross River Dena Council v. Government of the Yukon – delivered just days before the end of 2012 (on Dec 27th) — may force governments across Canada — including in BC — to rewrite their mining laws. The decision essentially holds that the “free entry system” — a system of allocating mineral rights that is central to mining law in much of Canada, including BC — is inconsistent with the obligation of the Crown to consult First Nations on decisions that may impact their Aboriginal Title and Rights.

The battle over the Northern Gateway pipeline rages on:

2013/01/11: PostMedia: Tankers too risky on B.C.’s north coast, oil-spill expert says — Major spill could be ‘catastrophic and irreversible’A marine consultant involved in B.C. oil-spill issues for a quarter century says the risks of a tanker oil spill associated with Enbridge Northern Gateway are simply too great for the project to proceed. Gerald Graham of Victoria-based Worldocean Consulting Ltd. said that calculations based on Enbridge’s own research show there is a 8.7-to-14.1-per-cent chance of at least one tanker spill greater than 31,500 barrels over a 50-year period, depending on whether the pipeline has a 525,000 or 850,000 barrel per day capacity. “The consequences of a major oil spill along B.C.’s north coast … could be catastrophic and irreversible,” he says in a submission to the Joint Review Panel studying the Enbridge proposal. “Couple this potentially disastrous outcome with a one-in-seven chance of one or more major spills occurring, and the overall threat level posed by Northern Gateway becomes unacceptably high.”

2013/01/06: PostMedia: Northern Gateway pipeline risk assessment to be conducted by U.S. Coast Guard
Concerns south of the border over oil tanker traffic from British Columbia have spurred a U.S. Coast Guard review of proposed increases in Canadian oil exports. A legislative amendment proposed by Washington state Sen. Maria Cantwell and signed into law by President Barack Obama a couple of weeks ago gives the U.S. marine safety agency six months to conduct a risk assessment of the planned expansion of oil pipeline capacity to the West Coast. While several proposed projects would see oil from the Alberta oil sands brought to the B.C. coast for export primarily to China, the legislation deals specifically with tanker traffic out of the Vancouver area.

2013/01/10: CBC: Kinder Morgan hikes scale of Trans Mountain expansion
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners is increasing the scope of its Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion in Western Canada. Subsidiary Kinder Morgan Canada said Thursday that increased long-term commitments from shippers have convinced it to ramp up the proposed expansion capacity to 890,000 barrels per day from a previously planned 750,000. The expansion represents a capital investment of $5.4 billion and will complete the twinning of the existing pipeline from Strathcona County, Alta., to Burnaby, B.C.

Canada’s representative at the IPCC — deluded or just another liar?

2013/01/09: iPolitics: Canada’s climate change ambassador looks beyond Kyoto
Back from his first United Nations conference as Canada’s climate change ambassador, Dan McDougall offered reassurance: our international reputation is not in tatters. “We have very good relations with our colleagues and countries around the world. Canada’s positions are respected,” McDougall said Friday. “We’re very active in all of the negotiation sessions and making very positive contributions.”

The ISA/PRV/IHN/Alpha virus in Canadian waters is potentially disastrous:

2013/01/09: NatureN: Fish biologists claim political interference over salmon studies
Seven US fisheries scientists have raised a formal complaint claiming that a supervisor threatened to eliminate their research division after the team produced controversial model predictions of survival and recovery of the threatened coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in the Klamath River Basin in Oregon. “This falls into the basket of obstruction of science for policy or political ends,” says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), based in Washington DC. The watchdog group filed the complaint of scientific misconduct on 7 January to the Department of Interior on behalf of the scientists who work at the US Bureau of Reclamation in Klamath Falls, Oregon.

In BC, the stage is set. Now what will Clark and Dix do?

2013/01/09: CBC: Progress Energy picks TransCanada for $5B pipeline expansion
Progress Energy has awarded a $5-billion natural gas infrastructure project across northern British Columbia to TransCanada Corp., the Calgary-based pipeline company. TransCanada will design, build, own and operate the proposed Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project for Progress. It will also extend an existing transmission line to connect with the Prince Rupert line to serve Progress and other gas suppliers. The Prince Rupert transmission line will carry gas from the North Montney region in northeastern British Columbia to a proposed export facility near Prince Rupert, B.C.

2013/01/07: CBC: Alberta lakes show chemical effects of oilsands, study finds — Pollutants from 50 years of oilsands production found in lake 90 km from facilities
A new study released today shows chemicals from 50 years of oilsands production are showing up in increasing amounts in lakes in Northern Alberta. And the effects are being felt much further away than previously thought. The joint study between scientists at Queens University and Environment Canada looked at core samples from five lakes close to the oilsands mining and upgrading operations in Fort McMurray, Alta. They also studied samples from Namur Lake, 90 kilometres northwest. The authors focused on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. These are cancer-causing chemicals that are released when things are burned. They can occur naturally — from forest fires, volcanic activity and geological deposits — but burning petroleum in the production of the oilsands leaves a particular fingerprint, so the scientists were able to trace where the PAHs in the core samples came from. The study found that the levels of PAHs in all six lakes had increased anywhere from 2½ times to 23 times background levels in the early 1960s, before the start of oilsands mining in the region.

2013/01/09: ENS: Court Upholds Public Process in Nuclear Plant Safety ‘Exemptions’
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must permit public participation in decisions about exempting nuclear power plants from federal regulations or explain to the public why it will not do so, following a ruling by a federal appeals court this week. With this ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has created a new legal standard and legal presumption in favor of public participation in “exemption” decisions at nuclear power plants. The appeals court ruled in a case brought by Richard Brodsky, a former New York State Assemblyman representing Westchester County who is currently a senior fellow at the progressive think tank Demos in New York City and at the NYU Wagner School for Public Service. Brodsky v. NRC challenged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s practice of issuing “exemptions” to its own health and safety regulations at Entergy’s Indian Point nuclear power plant on the Hudson River in Westchester County, and doing so in secret. The coalition that brought the litigation to court includes the Sierra Club-Atlantic Chapter and Westchester’s Citizens Awareness Network, or Westcan.

2013/01/03: CapPress: Deal struck in antitrust lawsuit — Fertilizer buyers to continue class action lawsuit against other potash makers
Two foreign fertilizer companies have agreed to turn over information about an alleged price-fixing cartel and pay nearly $13 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit over potash. A federal judge recently granted preliminary approval for two deals that would end litigation between fertilizer buyers and the Russian potash companies, Uralkali and Silvinit, and their affiliates. However, the fertilizer buyers will continue to pursue a class-action lawsuit against other major global potash producers who didn’t sign on to the settlement, including Agrium, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and the Mosaic Co. Uralkali and Silvinit agreed to two settlement deals — the companies will pay $10 million to farm suppliers who bought potash directly from them and $2.75 million to farmers and others who bought the product through middlemen.

What do you have in energy comparisons and transitions?

2013/01/07: AJC: Georgia Power to close 15 coal, oil units
Georgia Power said Monday it will shut down 15 coal and oil-fired units, cutting nearly one-sixth of its power grid capacity to comply with federal rules aimed at reducing air pollution. The move, which comes after the utility and parent Southern Co. spent years unsuccessfully fighting the regulations, further cuts coal out of the electricity mix of a company once known as the dominant provider of coal-fired electricity. Currently, the amount of coal that Georgia Power uses to produce electricity stands at 47 percent, down from 70 percent five years ago.

Hey! Let’s contaminate the aquifer for thousands of years! It’ll be a fracking gas!

2013/01/08: DenverPost: Environment groups decry proposed rule for water testing in Colorado
Colorado’s proposed new rule to protect water from expanding oil and gas operations would not apply to more than 25 percent of wells or to the tanks, pipelines and other production facilities that are frequent sources of leaks. Environmental groups that worked with Shell Oil to develop a tougher before-and-after groundwater-testing rule are calling the state’s proposal a farce.

Regarding oil and the economy:

And in pipeline news:

2013/01/11: EurActiv: Nabucco to become ‘a real pipeline’ soon, owners say
The companies behind the Nabucco pipeline have agreed to give Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas group a stake in the project to pipe the country’s gas to Europe, boosting its prospects against the rival TAP project. The Shah Deniz II consortium, which has already signed a funding deal with the rival Trans-Adriatic pipeline (TAP), has said its acquisition of a stake would be critical for the Nabucco project to go ahead. TAP plans to pipe Azeri gas to Italy while Nabucco will transport Caspian supplies to Europe.

2013/01/10: ABC(Au): Fiji solar project gathering energy
A village on the Fiji island of Kadavu has become the first in the country to benefit from a Japanese aid program to provide solar power to rural households. The village of Matasawalevu received solar panels as part of the ‘Fiji 1000 Solar Home Systems Project’, a USD $2.3 million initiative developed and implemented by the Government of Fiji. The program was funded through the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) Fund, which is financed by the government of Japan and administered by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

2013/01/08: CNN: High-tech iShack brings solar power to slums
The iShack aims to improve living conditions for people in slums – The ‘shack’ is equipped with a solar panel that can power lights and a mobile phone charger – The project will be scaled up using a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation – U.N. Habitat: More than 60% of Sub-Saharan Africa’s urban population lives in slums

2013/01/07: ChinaInc: China builds new nuclear plant
China has broken ground on a 3 billion-yuan (476 million-U.S. dollar) nuclear power project, which is China’s largest planned nuclear facility, a Chinese energy company said Sunday. The nuclear power project will be the first in the world to put a reactor with fourth-generation features into commercial use.

Insurance and re-insurance companies are feeling the heat:

2013/01/08: ABC(Au): Insurance companies count rising cost of fires
Insurance companies are already starting to count the financial cost of the Tasmanian bushfires, with fires in New South Wales and Victoria expected to greatly add to the tally of property damage. The estimated cost of property losses from the Tasmanian bushfires has already passed $42 million, with further damage possible as fires flare up again and threaten more homes.

2013/01/06: Eureka: Counting the cost of mercury pollution
Cleaning up mercury pollution and reducing prenatal exposure to the neurotoxin methylmercury (MeHg) could save the European Union E10,000 million per year … While some mercury occurs naturally in the environment for example from volcanic eruptions or forest fires, most is generated by burning fossil fuels.

Low Key Plug

My first novel Water was published in Canada May, 2007. The American release was in October. An Introductionto the novel is available, along with the Unpublished Forewordand the Launch Talk(which includes some quotations), An overview of my writing is available here.

A Simple Plea

Webmasters, web coders and content providers have mercy on your low bandwidth brethren. Because I am on dial-up, I am a text surfer — no images, no javascript and no flash. When you post a graphic, will you please use the alt text field … and when you embed a youtube/vimeo/flash video, please add some minimal description. Thank you.

<regards>

-het

P.S. Recent postings can be found in the week archive and the ancient postings can be accessed here, which should open to this.

“The problem that faces our societies is that we have developed industries and policies that were appropriate at a certain moment, but now start to reduce human welfare, like for example the oil and car industry. Their political and financial power is so great and they can prevent change. It is my expectation that they will succeed. This means that we are going to evolve through crisis, not through proactive change.” -Dennis Meadows